The dominant theme of 2023 for data centers was artificial intelligence (AI); just about every data center company we work with has mentioned AI. Based on these conversations, we at Dominion Energy are thinking through how to deal with the following implications of AI for a regulated electric utility company:
- Significant capacity requests
- Geographical dispersion of load
- Operational differences between testing and inference loads
Significant Capacity Requests
In 2023, we received in total, the largest request for capacity in the transmission zone we serve. While Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world, the introduction of AI has driven significant capacity requests into other areas of Virginia. These requests are signaling two trends for the industry in Virginia. First, the Northern Virginia market will remain the largest market in the world. While there will be new development migrating to other areas of the Commonwealth, Northern Virginia development will continue at significant levels. Second, “data gravity” was a concept used in the past to describe the clustering of data centers. Based on customer feedback, it appears that this concept will remain valid in Virginia. The trend of clustering in geographical markets will continue even as the load migrates across Virginia.
